Traditional birth attendants (TBAs) have appealed to the government to organise antenatal care training, and provide basic health equipment for delivery support to the various health centres within the country. According to them, an inquiry into hospital-based maternal deaths revealed that the care provided to women in labour was below expectation. The reported further indicated that in some cases, there was poor management of labour, poor recognition and management of complications such as bleeding and sepsis. That notwithstanding, the report also revealed that an unacceptable attitude of health workers, especially, doctors, was common. They made this observation at a workshop in Accra yesterday. The workshop was aimed at monitoring standards and ethics to propagate and enforce the Code of Ethics and legislation (ACT 575) applicable to members, affiliates, and all participants who are engaged in faith-based healthcare. The General Secretary of the Ghana Association of Faith Healers (GAFH) and TBAs, Mr. Kwaku Owusu, noted that the practice of midwifery in the country was declining, a situation he said, needed to be addressed. "In terms of midwives, not only is the total number of midwives decreasing, but the proportion actually practicing as midwives is also declining. Even among those practicing, a significant proportion is near retiring age. During the five year period, 2003-2007, less than 75% of the midwives within the service, at any time, practiced midwifery," he added. Mr. Owusu said, according to the Ministry of Health, the government intends to accord official accreditation to recognised practitioners. He pointed out that the Ministry, through the Traditional Medicine Practice Council, had commenced registration and licensing of practitioners and facilities. "The government has recognised the contributions of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Healthcare practitioners, including Faith Healing Missions and operators of Prayer and Healing camps, towards healthcare delivery at the primary level," he said. He mentioned that the GAFH and TBA were aimed at building and promoting public confidence in the profession, by eliminating quacks and charlatans, and ensuring quality traditional healthcare and service delivery. With herbal medicines, Mr. Kwaku Owusu stressed that there was the need for practitioners to work in making the various herbs and plants more hygienically produced, standardised and scientifically testable, such that the dangers supposedly inherent in its application and doubts about its efficacy, could be dispelled. He said the knowledge of the power and potency of many herbal portions, which were handed over verbally from one person to another, was being lost, by lack of documentation. He, therefore, urged all to support the implementation of Traditional Medicine Practice ACT 575, for the regulation of faith healers and other traditional health practitioners, to improve standards and eradicate human rights violation in Churches, prayer camps, and healing centres in the country. Source: The Ghanaian Chronicle